Chapter 31

Noah~

W hile Declan had been trying to do me a solid, he had failed miserably. After dropping that little gem on Shea Thursday, he and Lochlan had left me to deal with a very pissed off woman, though she'd been in the right. As soon as we'd been left alone, she'd lost her shit on me, informing me how she hadn't appreciated being manipulated, which was exactly what my cousin had done.

Of course, being the understanding husband that I was, instead of explaining how that'd been the plan all along, I'd done my best to just sit back and let her have a go at me. For someone exhausted and injured, she'd gotten an extra dose of pissed-the-fuck-off, and she hadn't held back in her opinion of me or my family. It'd been clear that Shea had been at her wit's end, and so after she had finished giving me the what for, I'd taken her back to bed, then had used my tongue, hands, and cock to help her get over it, though she clearly hadn't since she had slammed the bathroom door on my face when we'd gotten back home.

At any rate, I'd left her stewing at home to meet Declan, Cathal, and James at the Manor, Craig Doyle our guest of honor. Declan had gotten him released, and not suspecting a thing, the fool had willingly followed Declan out here, none the wiser.

Two hours after I had arrived, the basement smelled like shit and piss, and Craig was already begging for his life. Honestly, since he'd been one of our highest-ranking guards, I hadn't expected him to fold this quickly, and it was quite the disappointment for sure.

"I'm sorry," he sobbed. "I…I swear…I thought…I thought that I was…was doing you a favor."

If I were anyone else, I'd take his words into consideration. In fact, most people would see what Craig had done as the ultimate sign of loyalty, which was exactly what he was claiming it was. He'd taken my complaints about getting married to heart, and as one of my loyal guards, had decided to do something about it. Unfortunately for Craig, I wasn't anyone else, and I was going to keep him alive only long enough for me to find out who the other two fucks were.

I grabbed one of the metal chairs that'd been placed in the cell, then took a seat as I tried really hard not to compare Craig to when Keavy had been sitting in his same seat. Instead of blubbering like a fool and begging for her life, Keavy had insulted Declan, and she really was fucking perfect for my cousin.

"See, Craig," I began. "The issue with your over-enthusiastic troubleshooting is that my wife now believes that I'm the one behind the hit on her life, and since you're a smart man, you can probably guess how problematic that is for newlyweds."

"Noah, I swear to God, I was only trying to help," he repeated. "You said…you said that you didn't want to be married, but I knew that…that you'd never defy The O'Brien."

"Be that as it may, you should have done your research before orchestrating your little plan," I said, hypocrisy sitting in the pit of my stomach like a stone. Had I'd been more considerate of Shea, then Craig never would have gotten it in his head to do me this ‘favor'.

"I didn't know," he sobbed. "I…I didn't know that…that you liked her."

"Love," I said, correcting him. "I've fallen in love with my wife, and it really is a shame that you decided to act before getting clarification."

"Look, Craig," Declan said from behind me, jumping in. "Everyone in this room already knows that you're not going to make it out of here alive. So, at this point, the only thing that you can do to help yourself is tell us everything. You pulled two other men into this mess, and I want to know who they are."

"I'm sorry!" he yelled. "I was…was doing it for…for Noah!"

"Who are they?" Cathal asked. "Take my advice and do yourself a favor on this one, laddie."

Craig started stomping his feet, like his desperation was going to get him out of this. "I'm sorry," he repeated. "I…please…don't do this."

"Craig, I think you're misunderstanding the situation," I told him calmly. "Right now, I am allowing Cathal to handle the situation because I'm more interested in answers than I am revenge. However, if you do not start talking, then I'm going to take over, and I don't think I need to tell you what will happen if that ends up being the case."

"Oh, for fuck's sakes, quit going easy on the man," James complained.

I looked over at my cousin. "If ye have somewhere ta be, then donna let us stop ye, lad."

James flipped me off as Cathal said, "We need Lochlan here. If I'm going to make him talk, then we need Lochlan to make sure that he doesn't die on us before he can tell us anything significant."

"He's got a point," James agreed.

Ignoring us all, Declan asked, "Who were the other two men?"

I watched Craig's shoulders sag in defeat. "I know them by Andros and Sergey," he finally confessed.

Russians.

"Motherfecker," Declan hissed as he tossed one of the other chairs across the room.

Feeling my own rage threatening to creep up on me, I asked, "You went to Kotov?"

Craig's eyes widened. "What? No…they…no…"

"Andros and Sergey are Russian names, you fucking idiot," I snapped. "Don't act like you don't fucking know that."

"They're not Kotov," he insisted. "They're…they were just a couple of guys that…that answered when I put feelers out."

I looked over at Declan pacing like a madman. "Simpson?"

Declan stopped to look back at me, and my cousin looked positively murderous, and it really was a guess at which one of us was going to end Craig's life. "Imma have ta call Kotov ta find out."

"They're not Kotovs," Craig insisted. "They…"

"What?" I snapped, finally fed the fuck up. "Why are you so sure that they weren't Kotovs?"

Craig started blubbering again, and I really just wanted to snap his neck in two. "When…when I first met up with them, they…they mentioned needing the…the money."

"Quit feckin' ‘round," Declan barked.

"They…they talked about how them and their friends needed some extra money," Craig went on. "The Kotovs don't need money."

"You really are a stupid sonofabitch," Cathal sighed. "They could easily be Kotovs with a gambling or drug problem."

"I'm more concerned with you doing business with motherfuckers that you don't know when you knew that we were looking for Klive Simpson and his men," I remarked, pissed at how we'd all misjudged Craig so badly. "Not sure which is worse, really."

"Text ‘em with another job," Declan ordered. "An' so help me God, if they donna answer ye, Imma goin' ta put yer head on a goddamn spike in da middle o' da town."

"Andros is under Bakery," Craig whimpered like a bitch. "Ser…Sergey is…is under Coffee Shop."

"Was there anyone else involved?" I asked as James yanked Craig's phone from his stained pants.

Craig shook his head. "No…no," he sighed heavily. "I…I really thought that I was doing…doing you a…a favor, Noah."

"Yeah, well…the road to Hell is paved with good intentions, and in this case, you're going to see that a lot sooner than you'd been expecting, lad," I replied, not caring how long he'd been with us. "Just be glad that my wife survived your little present, or else your entire family would be joining you."

"Leave my family alone," he sobbed at the reminder. "Ple…please…"

"How much did you pay them?" James asked as he went through Craig's phone.

"I'm sor…sorry…" Craig whined.

"Answer the fucking question," I snapped.

"Ye no doin' yerself any favors here," Declan bit out.

"Ten," Craig finally admitted. "I paid them ten…ten-thousand dollars."

I saw red.

This sonofabitch had valued Shea at an amount that I pissed away just waking up in the morning. Ten-thousand dollars had been the price of her life to him, and I'd never been so fucking insulted in all my life. My wife was fucking priceless, and Craig had dealt her away for ten racks of nothing.

"Then it wasn't Kotov," Declan remarked. "There's no way that his men would have killed an O'Brien for that small of an amount."

"I agree," James chimed in. "I also just got a reply. They're interested in finishing the job."

"Text them to meet us on Drummond Street, just behind the closed auto shop," I instructed. "Tell them to come alone and that I'm pissed that they fucked the job up."

James grinned down at the phone. "Who are you sending to meet them?"

"No one," I answered. "I'm going to meet them myself."

"Da feck ye ere," Declan bit out.

This time, I grinned. "I stand corrected."